"They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it." -Confucius

Thursday, October 4, 2012

G-d's "regret": Isaiah 23:13; Sukah 52B;

Isaiah 23:13:
Behold, the land of the Chaldeans, this people was not. Assyria founded it for ships, they set up their towers, they demolished its palaces, they made it a ruin.
Rashi (ad loc.):
"this people was not" -- They are not fitting to have been a people... They are an aberrant people among mankind, whose creation the Holy One Blessed is He regrets, as [our Sages] taught: "There are three [whose creation] the Holy One Blessed is He regrets," in Tractate Sukah (52B).
Sukah 52B:
Rav Chana bar Acha said, and some say it was taught in the Academy of Rav: There are four that the Holy One Blessed is He regrets having created, and they are: the Chaldeans, the Evil Inclination, Ishmael, Exile.
Iyun Yaakov (ad loc.):
"the Holy One Blessed is He regrets" -- Even though the Holy One Blessed is He knows the future and regret does not apply to Him, nevertheless we find [similarly stated] in the Torah, "G-d regretted that He made man on earth," for the Torah speaks in human terms. The meaning of this statement is that it would be fitting to regret [creating] these, were it not for the fact that He did so in order that Israel would return in repentance, and the Evil Inclination was created to increase the reward for the righteous who vanquish it.